The Debate: Who is the greatest football manager of all time?

The history of football has not only been defined by the most talented players the sport has ever seen, but also the shrewdest managers who have guided them.

At the forefront of football's greatest triumphs have been the distinguished managers capable of building, coaching and inspiring teams to unprecedented successes.

The bet365 News team Debate the identity of the greatest football manager of all time.

The conqueror of Europe and the most decorated manager in UEFA Champions League history, Carlo Ancelotti is the textbook definition of leadership.

Jaquob Crooke

One subtle raise of the left eyebrow and it’s game over.

The effortlessly charismatic and endearing Carlo Ancelotti - warmly known in Spain as ‘Don Carlo’ - is the only man to win league titles in all of Europe's top five leagues and the only man to win the European Cup/UEFA Champions League five times.

It’s a remarkable feat in itself, but the fact that no other manager has won Europe's greatest prize more than three times is testament to the longevity and proficiency of this managerial great.

At a time when football is dictated by ideologies and coaches strictly abiding by a certain style, Ancelotti’s lack of an obvious philosophy has resulted in the Italian’s tactical expertise being overlooked.

Tutored by the great Arrigo Sacchi, Ancelotti’s strategical thinking and astute man-management have enabled him to extract the maximum out of his players, moulding his system to accommodate personnel.

Pragmatism is vulnerable to criticism and yet Ancelotti has proven the immense value of tactical adaptability.

Where many overcomplicate, there is a great strength to his simplicity.

He’s never been the character to take the acclaim; it’s always been about the collective. If the former Parma and Roma midfielder was an egotist who flaunted every accolade he attained, maybe more people would take notice.

Ultimately, he’s never quite got the credit his achievements deserve.

Orchestrating Milan’s return to the European summit with two UEFA Champions League successes, league titles followed at Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich.

For so long Real Madrid had craved ‘La Decima’. Los Blancos had sifted through the Galacticos era, acquired Cristiano Ronaldo for a then world record fee and, having endured a string of brief coaching tenures, even appointed the manager who could seemingly not fail, Jose Mourinho.

Where the ‘Special One’ fell short, Ancelotti executed.

Elite coaches are fundamentally judged on their trophy cabinet and winning has been the story of Ancelotti’s managerial career.

It’s why his second stint at Real Madrid has etched his name into immortality.

Their path to UEFA Champions League glory in 2022 was an extraordinary one. Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat in the semi-finals against Manchester City, Ancelotti’s men revelled in the questionable underdog tag to conquer Liverpool in the final.

In 2024, Guardiola was again downed by Ancelotti’s persistent charges.

In a quarter-final contest where Man City were relentlessly banging on the front door, Real demonstrated remarkable resilience. There was no dependence on individual quality to bail them out; this was a concerted effort where every player was in harmony with Ancelotti’s thinking.

The players respect him, and for a club of Real Madrid’s stature with its cohort of egos, that can be difficult to maintain.

What stands out above all else is Ancelotti’s decision to subject himself to what many would consider a torturous stint as Everton manager.

Could you envision Guardiola attempting to concoct a winning blueprint which included Mason Holgate and Theo Walcott? The man would despair.

The brains behind arguably the best club side ever at Barcelona and the most dominant English team of all time at Manchester City, Pep Guardiola's greatness as a manager is unrivalled.

James Wilson

Suggestions that it was impossible for Guardiola to fail as manager at the Camp Nou given the quality of the Barcelona squad he inherited are wide of the mark, with the Catalan giants having finished third in La Liga the season before he took the helm, a whopping 18 points behind bitter rivals Real Madrid on top.

Transitioning from B team manager to the top job with the senior side in the summer of 2008 and inviting La Masia academy graduates Sergio Busquets and Pedro along for the ride, Guardiola inspired Barcelona to a stunning continental Treble of trophies in his debut season – La Liga, the UEFA Champions League and the Copa del Rey.

This was the first time ever a Spanish side had completed this feat, with Barcelona achieving it in style with the technically dazzling trio of Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Xavi at the forefront of Guardiola’s tiki-taka, possession-oriented tactical system.

Becoming the first manager in football history to win six trophies in a calendar year in 2009, Guardiola’s unprecedented success with Barcelona would continue, securing the UEFA Champions League title again in 2011 with a second final victory over Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United in the space of three years.

A disciple of the ‘Total Football’ tactical ideals endorsed by his former manager and mentor Johan Cruyff, with whom he won Barcelona’s first European Cup title as a player in 1992, Guardiola’s next challenge in coaching was to try his hand overseas in a different league.

The Catalan was able to achieve this in remarkable fashion as manager of Bayern Munich, leading the Bavarian giants to seven trophies in only three seasons in charge.

Although success as manager of Germany’s historically dominant club is deemed by many to be almost a given, especially this century, the style in which Guardiola was able to win at Bayern was startling.

Winning three successive Bundesliga titles, Guardiola’s Bayern broke the record for the most points accrued in German top-flight history with 91 in 2012/13 before finishing with just one point fewer in the subsequent campaign.

Not satisfied with conquering Spanish and German football, Guardiola set about proving his credentials in arguably the most competitive league of all in the form of the English Premier League when accepting the Manchester City job in 2016.

It took only one year for Guardiola to get his eye in as a Premier League manager, as following a third-placed finish in his maiden campaign at the Etihad, the revered tactician has led the club to an astonishing six league titles in seven seasons.

With a second continental Treble achieved with City in 2022/23, becoming the first ever manager to pull this off on two occasions, the genius mind of Guardiola has proven truly indomitable on English soil.

A two-time continental Treble winner; a Bundesliga record-breaker; the leader of the only English club to win four consecutive top-flight titles; it has become almost impossible to deny Guardiola’s status as the best manager to have ever lived.

Sir Alex Ferguson rebuilt a club and returned it to the pinnacle of English and European football over a 26-year career. It's a managerial feat that will never be matched.

Liam Williams

As the years pass, it can become easy to take certain sporting feats for granted, like Lionel Messi’s 91-goal year; they get repeated so often you begin to downplay their significance, and similar seems to be happening with Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United tenure.

Of course, prior to Ferguson moving south of the border, he’d enjoyed an incredibly successful spell with Aberdeen.

In the last 58 years, Rangers or Celtic have won 54 titles; Ferguson’s Aberdeen were responsible for three of the four non-Old Firm titles, even going on to beat Real Madrid to the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1983.

Ferguson took over a Manchester United side with potential, as evidenced by their two FA Cup wins in 1983 and 1985, and the five straight top-four finishes in the old First Division, but there were significant issues holding them back, namely the culture within the club.

Ferguson would change all that, but it took time. In his second and third full seasons in charge, United finished 11th and 13th, but the manager found himself bailed out by the FA Cup win of 1990, which led to the Cup Winners’ Cup win of 1991.

Critics will say that United out-spent all their rivals in the early years of Ferguson’s dominance which is demonstrably untrue. United weren’t the biggest spenders in any of the first six years of the Premier League, in which they won four titles.

In only three Premier League seasons did Ferguson out-spend the rest of the league; the core of his sides were built from academy graduates and players he and his coaching staff developed, with splashes of world class talent where needed.

There’s no denying Pep Guardiola has developed countless players himself, imprinting his peerless football brain on them and it’s not an understatement to say he’s one of the game’s greatest revolutionaries, but this season has surely proven once and for all who the actual managerial GOAT is.

Guardiola has encountered adversity twice in his Manchester City career; his first season at the club (where he still spent £170,000,000 on new players), and this season, where key midfielder Rodri has missed most of the campaign through injury.

It’s not incomparable to Roy Keane’s season-ending injury in 1997 for Manchester United, but even then they only finished a point behind a formidable Arsenal side, while Manchester City have completely collapsed and there’s a chance they miss out on the UEFA Champions League, when five teams will qualify.

Yes, there have been other injuries, but it’s hard to sympathise too much considering the riches at Guardiola’s disposal, and unlike so many of his contemporaries, Guardiola has never punched above his weight, never truly exceeding expectations.

Carlo Ancelotti’s genius comes in his ability to give the best players in the world the freedom to be just that on the biggest stages; it’s how he’s won the UEFA Champions League five times, a competition that relies on moments and margins.

The sticking point with Ancelotti however is that he’s only won six league titles in his career, despite managing the likes of Juventus, Milan, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid for 20 years.

Ancelotti needs to establish a domestic dynasty to be considered in the same league as Ferguson, while Guardiola needs to prove himself without a bottomless pit of money; a challenge he’s unlikely to ever take on.

Guardiola is undoubtedly one of the sharpest minds in football history, with his impact on the game perhaps exceeding that of the likes of Rinus Michels and John Cruyff, but he’s operated in a different sphere to everyone else.

Ferguson rebuilt a club almost single-handedly, returning them to the pinnacle of English and European football, all while maintaining the ability to adapt to the ever-changing game and retaining the hunger to stay in post for 26 years.

It’s a feat no manager will accomplish ever again.